SHINE project implementation: NGO distributes free inputs, equipment to farmers in Upper East

As part of the implementation of the Sustainable Development, Human Rights Inclusion and Equality (SHINE) project, 800 farmers in the Upper East Region have received free farm inputs and equipment to enhance their farming activity.

Items received were 1,600 pic sacks, 4,220 bags of organic and inorganic fertiliser and 56 pumping machines, among others.

The three-year CAD$2 million project is being implemented in Ghana and Ethiopia. In Ghana, it is being implemented in the Upper East Region by TradeAID Integrated, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in partnership with Canadian Feed the Children, a Canada-based NGO with funding from Global Affairs Canada.

The project which is targeted at improving the economic well-being of women and girls, especially in the vegetable value-chain, is being implemented in 16 communities in four districts, namely Bolgatanga and Kassena Nankana municipalities, Bongo and Talensi districts.

Vegetable gardening

At a ceremony to hand over some inputs to some of the beneficiary farmers, the Executive Director, TradeAID Integrated, Nicholas Apokerah, said the region was noted for dry season vegetable gardening, hence the roll-out of the project to improve the well-being of the farmers.

He stated that one of the constraints farmers faced was the inability to purchase inputs due to its increasing cost, saying “as a result, the project set aside a significant amount of money to tackle the challenge.”

He indicated that the organisation believed that the intervention would contribute significantly to poverty reduction and enhance the income earning potential of the farmers, so as to live dignified lives in the society.

Mr Apokerah said that some female farmers during the dry season were compelled to travel to the south to engage in menial work with its attendant consequences, and added that “this intervention will enable the women to stay back and engage in year-round farming to increase food production.”

He implored the farmers to make the very best of the support so that they could still stand on their feet after the project had been phased out and further entreated the government to desilt dams in the communities so that they were able to accommodate more water to support the farmers.

“Some of the dams constructed under the One Village One Dam (1V1D) policy need to be deepened to improve their water storage capacity” he said, and additionally appealed for the work on the rehabilitation of the Vea dam to be fast-tracked since its slow pace had prevented farmers within its catchment area from farming.

Beneficiaries

One of the farmers, Elvis Akolgo, lauded the NGO for the implementation of the project, as the distribution of inputs coupled with the training on best agronomic practices had helped them to increase their yields.

Another farmer, Mercy Abanga, expressed gratitude for the project, saying it had enabled the female farmers to engage in active farming in the dry season, thereby preventing them from travelling out of the region in search of non-existent jobs.